Our heartfelt prayers go out to the entire nation, and we applaud the men and women of our civilian and military agencies who are bravely responding to this disaster.
Helicopters, transport planes and 2,000 Marines already have been dispatched to Haiti by the U.S. government.
According to reports from The Associated Press, the earthquake has affected as many as 3 million people, collapsed government buildings and caused major damages to hospitals throughout the area. The amount of destruction is staggering and the cost of recovery will be immense.
To support the humanitarian efforts taking place to assist the people of Haiti, people across America are doing their part to help ease the pain. Locally, Mary Arnzan, executive director for the local chapter of the American Red Cross, said the Red Cross has committed $10 million in relief aid and many volunteers are helping provide food, water and shelter.
Portsmouth Junior High School students in Suzie Keller’s seventh-grade class joined the effort Thursday when they started collecting money door-to-door by using orange UNICEF boxes to collect money for the effort.
Internationally, the World Bank has committed a $100 million grant to Haiti, and the U.N. is sending $10 million, as is Britain.
To do your part, personal donations can be made online at www.redcross.org or by texting the word “HAITI” to 90999. Each text will be a donation of $10 toward Red Cross relief funds and will be billed to your phone. More than $3 million already has been raised by the texting program, Arzan said. Donations can also be dropped off at the local office at 1801 Robinson Ave., in Portsmouth with the word “Haiti” written in the memo of your check. The money will be used to buy supplies to ship to Haiti.
The generosity of everyone will have a significant impact on the rescue efforts and will help the people of Haiti begin the process of recovering from this disaster. We urge everyone who can afford it to donate and help in the recovery of Haiti and its people.
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